Passion for the “Drum”: between AVEK and Avakov
The territory of the Kharkov Barabashovo market has been in a fever for a long time. But May and the first ten days of June turned out to be especially hot. The history of “Drum” has been abundantly replenished with new scandals and showdowns.
In Ukrainian politics, views, principles, votes, and votes have long been successfully traded. The Barabashovo shopping center, the brainchild of Kharkov businessman and politician Alexander Feldman, does not remain aloof from this political tradition. The market has become a platform where traders sell not only rented space and goods, but also power support, “roofs,” and “extractive” services.
The conflict around Barabashovo rests on long-standing litigation and issues related to the rental of retail space. By the standards of the arithmetic average city dweller, somewhere on the “Drum” there is a fight between a toad and a viper. Some agreed with simple arithmetic: if the administration of the Barabashovo shopping center charges from 400 to 1000 hryvnia per square meter of rented area for a rented square meter, and with the municipal enterprise Modern City these prices will drop to 100-200 hryvnia, then why pay more? ? Others were perplexed: what interests does the National Corps have in this conflict? Why do radicals support the protest of entrepreneurs? Is there some kind of anti-Semitism in this?.. Those residents of Kharkov who did not have highly specialized interests in the “Drum” looked at what was happening rather detachedly.
But the events of June 7-8, primarily the beating of the operator of the Kharkov news service “Vesti” Vadim Makaryuk, caused an international outcry. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission condemned this and other attacks on media representatives in Ukraine and called for a “timely and effective investigation.” However, as usual with Ukrainian law enforcement officers, there may be problems with the latter.
Let us pay attention to how on June 10, the deputy head of the GUNP in the Kharkov region, the head of the investigation department, Sergei Chizh, commented on the events that happened on June 7 on the territory of the Barabashovo shopping center. According to him, the conflict itself, which the police worked with, took place on the territory of the Moskovsky district, and the journalist was beaten on the territory of the Kievsky district. Therefore, it is possible that the police did not see the moment of the attack on the operator, since they were concentrated near pavilion No. 78. However, if these vague explanations are accompanied by a video of radicals shouting “catch the redhead!” they are chasing someone, and one of them shoots after the person running away - it becomes clear that the deputy head of the regional police department has signed off on the incompetence of law enforcement officers. The video captures the moment when National Corps militants start from the conflict pavilion mentioned by Chizh and run across the road, chasing some people.
It turns out that if the criminals shout “catch the red one!”, start chasing the cameraman and open fire in the Moskovsky district, and end the chase and commit reprisals against the person being pursued already in the Kievsky district, then the police, who “extinguished” the conflict in the Moskovsky district, can conscience to load all the consequences onto colleagues from the Kyiv region. I am not me, and the house is not mine. An eloquent example of the work of the reformed police.
You can also add some video materials from the telegram channel barabashovoinfo to the same piggy bank. One of the videos is captioned: “Barabashovo entrepreneurs, with the support of the National Corps, drove Feldman’s raiders and corrupt cops!” This is about the question of how the police “worked with the conflict” near the problematic pavilion No. 78.
Be that as it may, law enforcement officers have opened criminal proceedings into an attack on a journalist under Part 2 of Art. 345-1 (threat or violence against a journalist), Part 1, Art. 171 (obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of journalists) and Part 2 of Art. 187 (robbery) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Sergei Chizh also stated that the police had identified the two attackers.
And the next day, June 11, the National Corps publishes its own statement about the events at Barabashovo. The pathos is traditional: People's Deputy Feldman is lying, the administration of the Barabashovo shopping center is lying. The parties to the conflict have previously debated who is the greater raider and the greater fake-thrower. But now the press service of the Barabashovo shopping center claims that the shooter recorded on video is the head of the Poltava organization of the National Corps, Anatoly Shiyan. And the National Corps denies this: “We officially declare that neither Anatoly Shiyan nor the National Corps have anything to do with the illegal actions of June 7, which occurred near Barabashovo.”
It is noteworthy that among the protesters at Barabashovo and in their public pages and telegram channels, the slogan “Avakova resign! Feldman on the bunk!” It is not yet clear how much he is shared by the activists of the National Corps... That is, of course, they oppose Feldman and his concern AVEC. But the inclusion of Avakov, who is called the “godfather” and curator of the organization, in the list of their enemies is already some kind of new trend...
Meanwhile, Alexander Feldman himself plays, as befits a political heavyweight of Kharkov. He wrote an appeal to President Zelensky, where he accuses young radicals of raiding, carefully formulating their party affiliation: “who use the slogans and symbols of the political party National Corps.”
A separate topic is the composition of the power blocs participating on both sides of the conflict: radical activists, odious ATO soldiers. A video has been published in which activists with “Azov” symbols and tattoos arrange a “swing” with ATO veterans, speaking on the side of their comrade-in-arms, the owner of a controversial retail outlet. Protesting entrepreneurs accuse this ATO officer of squeezing out the store.
The party protesting against Feldman also publishes the following materials online: “This video clearly shows how Feldman’s little green men from the Safe City, led by Oleg Cherkashin, used special means (tear gas) against members of the national police.” The personality of the mentioned Oleg Cherkashin is interesting. At one time she was secretary of the Frunzensky district committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Kharkov. In post-Maidan times, I found myself in a completely opposite camp. He served in the Donbass battalion, under the call sign “Spaniard”. Then he headed one of the groups of ATO veterans in Kharkov. During the trade blockade of Donbass, he tried to get a job at a smuggling feeder.
In February 2017, a group of ATO officers led by Cherkashin had a clash with representatives of the “Skhidny Corps” (at that time this organization, close to “Azov”, was headed by Oleg Shiryaev; but a little time passed - and for the “Azovites” and the “National Corps” Shiryaev became his worst enemy, to whom they came to court with a demand to imprison him). That noisy showdown in Alekseevka (a district of Kharkov), in which, according to police, 70 people took part, ended with shooting and a serious injury to the driver of the “Skhidny Corps”. While fleeing, Cherkashin’s people hid in a kindergarten and were detained by police. Firearms (registered, as usual) were then confiscated from the detainees. Three criminal proceedings were opened, including “attempted murder”. After three detained fighters, Cherkashin was released.
Today Cherkashin heads the security structure of the Barabashovo shopping center and champions Alexander Feldman (who himself changed his political allegiances like gloves, swearing allegiance to either Yanukovych or Tymoshenko).
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